MichiganRadio

Grabbing Air (with Video) ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) -

U.S. snowboarder Kevin Pearce injured himself last month while training for the winter games in Vancouver. Pearce was knocked unconscious and is still in critical condition.

The beauty and the danger of the sport is on display here in Michigan.

A new Olympic sized half pipe in Gaylord, Michigan is attracting some of the world's best snowboarders. They're training for this year's winter games. But the pipe is getting attention from locals too.

"Yeah, this is first time ridin' the pipe. And this thing's huge -- but they say if you go on the big ones first then the smaller ones just come naturally..." says Bronson Alejos. He thought he and his friends were doing pretty well for a first try. Then the New Zealand Olympic team showed up.

"It was gnarly," says Alejos. "They were completely just shredding us. We thought we were doing good. Then they come out here and just destroy."

The pros fly a lot higher. If you're standing on the platform at the top of the pipe, they'll go well over your head. They call it catching "big air" and they're up there for a while. (story continued below)


Kerry Staples is a physiotherapist for the Australian snowboarding team. He says the sheer size of the pipe makes it more dangerous.

"It's huge," says Staples. "And the fact that they're then going 15 feet out of the top of the thing -- it's unbelievably scary. Makes a lot of work for us 'cause when they fall, they fall pretty hard."

The half pipe is built with hard packed snow that feels as solid as concrete underfoot. U.S. snowboarder Kevin Pearce injured himself in Utah doing a move called a "double cork." It's two mid-air somersaults -- forward or backward -- a riskier maneuver, but the new standard in competition if you want to place in top three.

Don Desautels is with the National Ski Patrol. He says riders can get a serious head injury even with a helmet.

"It's just ultimately ice underneath this hard snow, so that's pretty hard," says Desautels. "It's like a pool table, you know. So you fall -- hit your head on a pool table. You'd appreciate what this must feel like if you don't have a helmet on."

Injuries are common among professional snowboarders. Most feel fortunate to avoid so called "time-loss" injuries. The kind that keep them off the slopes and out of competition.

"Broken bones. I have a dislocating shoulder. I've definitely seen like people get pretty injured and seen some bad falls......

"I broke my wrists when I was younger touch wood doesn't happen again. But that's about it. Just a few concussions here and there, but I've been pretty lucky....

"I've actually had both of my shoulders reconstructed."

Holly Crawford is on the Austrailian team. She says injuries are all just part of the fun.

"I am particularly good at hurting myself," says Crawford, "you know, unfortunately. But you know, it comes with the territory. It's the same with a lot of sports, there's always the injuries that you'll have."

A study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that injuries among world cup snowboarders were particularly high. The most common injuries are to the knees, lower back and head. One out of three riders will have some kind of injury in a season.

There are safer ways to practice their moves -- jumping into an air bag, for instance. But there can be injuries in air bags too, if riders don't land correctly.

"Heard of a lot of people recently that have been getting injured on the air bag," says New Zealand snowboarder Kendall Brown. "People doing knees and ankles, if you just land wrong. You know if you don't get it completely right. You know it's not the kind of thing you can go into thinking it's safe no matter what."

The 2010 winter games will mark the fourth appearance of snowboarding in the Olympics. As it progresses the moves will get trickier and the chance for injury will increase. But Kerry Staples says there's only one definite way to avoid injury.

"The safest way to manage them at the moment would be to not snowboard," says Staples. "I'm like -- if you don't want to get hurt, then the best thing to do would be to not go in the half pipe. But over the next couple of days I'll be doing some pretty big tricks, so we've just got to balance it out."

The Otsego Club has already hosted several international teams. It'll be open to the public for the duration of their training, which will end in mid-February. Management says they plan to bring the pipe back next year.

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